Coligny plans with USCB campus opposed by some Hilton Head residents

A proposal to build a campus for the University of South Carolina Beaufort on Hilton Head Island continues to anger some residents who fear increased traffic.

Three plans for redeveloping the Coligny District, two of which included a site for USCB's hospitality-management program, were presented Thursday to the town's Public Facilities Committee. The committee forwarded all three plans to Town Council for consideration but without a recommendation on which one it should choose.

Town officials said building the campus would spur redevelopment for the aging beachside business district.

"For 15 years we've been talking about this," town manager Steve Riley said of redeveloping the area. "How do you transform Coligny into something that's year-round?

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The town is considering three redevelopment plans, all of which include a park with a children's museum, a playground and at least 1.5 acres of green space.

The main differences in the plans are as follows:

One rendering shows a two-story building with classrooms and teaching labs, a three-story parking garage with more than 600 spaces and nearly 12,000 square feet of retail space in front of the garage off Pope Avenue.

One shows the campus but without the retail space.

The third does not include the campus but has a parking lot with more than 400 spaces.

"This gives the students a chance to live and work in the environment that they are studying," said Charlie Calvert, USCB professor of hospitality management.

Calvert estimated about 300 students would attend classes on the campus. About 170 hospitality-management students are currently enrolled at the college's Hilton Head Gateway campus on U.S. 278 near Bluffton.

That influx of students, along with proposed changes to the Coligny Circle roundabout, however, concerns Andy Klepchick, a real estate broker on the island's south end. He foresees traffic jams.

"You can imagine all the tourists in one lane trying to leave on a Saturday," Klepchick said. "They already don't know what direction they're turning."

But Alan Grogono, a Wexford Plantation resident and former college professor, said students would add stability to the area's rental housing market during the school year, when there are fewer tourists on the island.

"The students would stay for longer periods in the rentals you now bemoan the turnover of every few days," he said.

Redeveloping the Coligny area has long been a priority for the town, which faces a December 2014 deadline to commit an estimated $6.4 million to the district. The money is revenue from a tax-increment finance district.

Riley said Wednesday the project would total more than $20 million and take several years to complete.

The development plans go before Town Council on Oct. 15 for further consideration.